


Valtine

by orphan_account



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Dreams and Nightmares, F/F, Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-10-30 17:31:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17832998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Yellow can move on, and then she can't.





	Valtine

 

For the first time in millennium, Yellow slumped into the control chair. Even when under stress the matriarch had been constantly pressed to uphold an air of unbreakable, unwavering perfection, and it had been absolutely exhausting- not that'd she'd admit that the still incomprehensible cluster of emotions had driven her to keep her nose to the grindstone, not that she was unequipped to deal with it, not that it had just been one hell of a beast to tackle. She was simply tired. But, now the opportunity has shone through in the form of White's specular presence and the revoking of a tremendous amount of her duties by an ambitious child's heroic feats.

So Yellow sat in her command chair, eyes closed, procrastinating as machinery droned on in the background until she had decided that eleven seconds were enough, exhaled an unneeded breath and brought up a screen, checking the new colony's status in star cluster KIW-72. Had White or Blue been here she wouldn't have escaped their complaints about her constant desire to attach herself back to the control room, that enough was enough and that even Diamonds needed to sit back and relax for once. The colony was but 120 years old, a reason why Yellow felt uneasy to let the technicians manage it themselves, the fifth planet orbiting a super-cool blue star. They had come to an agreement with Steven and his ragtag team of gems to cease colonization efforts on planets with intelligent life, but plant only lifeforms were fair game. An asteroid belt surrounds the partially fauna-covered planet, appearing as a throng of stars upon the small hologram. Its trajectory implies it was either caught into the gravitational pull of another planet, or was formed by surely violent and destructive intergalactic collisions. Yellow opts to check some surface reports, the galactic hologram too uninformative, and swipes through the attached footage of each facet with a disinterested hand.

Kindergartens stood proudly among barren, gray rock formations, iron and glass gem structures formed a sharp contrast to the raw unbridled plantlife- the moon had been far too unstable for a lunar base, and sure enough it had soon drifted too close to the planet and crashed onto the surface, the explosion sending flaming boulders hurling through the skies. The planet, dubbed "Valtine" by some of the technicians who found KIW-72-951 far too much of a mouthful, was "outstandingly beautiful", as Pink had once commented with a trace of sadness tinting her cheery voice, back when they were still searching for a planet that suited her needs. However, as Yellow went through the surveillance imagery she began to see past the compatibility charts and statistical overlays, as if a thick fog had cleared from her vision. Now that she wasn't mandated to keep eyeing its every detail, the planet's essence started shining through.

Valtine's alien forests stretched away beneath a soft blue sky where a star-forming cloud sparkled, visible as a beautiful nebula through the almost never-ending fauna. The sight, shades upon shades of blue and pink, was bringing a newfound heaviness to the weary diamond's eyelids. Yellow rubs her eyes with one hand, the other settling onto the armrest for support. Now that she's acknowledged the fatigue deep-set into her form, it sunk in twice as hard. The light of the holopanel was suddenly too bright to look at, scorching images onto her retinas, and the diamond closes her eyes for a well-needed break. The droning of the tech begins to melt into a concert of soft noise. The tension begins to drain out of her slowly, steadily, and after a while the panels dismiss themselves, bathing the chamber in darkness. It's a peace much welcomed by her, the lack of distractions soothing, until a soft azure glow spreads across the room and footsteps start approaching.

Yellow groans subtly at the sound of the intruder, almost upset that her moment of calm was shattered so easily, but stops short when she opens her eyes to realize that the command room has seemingly disappeared into thin air. Taken aback the diamond stumbles tripping over her own feet, falling onto her back to come face to face with a light blue sky. Branches snap under her fingers, wide leaves shielding thick trunks from the unforgiving rays of an azure sun. Yellow blocks out the grueling sunlight with an arm, eyes adjusting to the brightness, before panic begins to settle in. Her fingers dig slightly into the gray earth as she rose to her feet glancing around, getting a hang of her surroundings, before realization hit. These trees were sure larger than she remembered, and the fauna stretched far into the grounds.

Valtine.

Just how did she get here? Has one of the machines in the control room malfunctioned? Was this a hologram triggered by her observation history? Yellow looked over her own hands, dirtied with gray earth and the rosy blood of the plants, and shook her head. _No, this is far too real to be a hologram._ She can make out just the silhouette of the unstable moon, and can see the thumb of her ship peeking from over a blanket of trees. Her ship was here- she could get going to Homeworld straight away! The matriarch exhales softly, relief washing over her as she walks towards the ship. Something is out of place however, the plants are far too intrusive, the branches and vines untamed and feral, the earth still glimmers with life. It was as if they've never set foot here before-

"Oh Yellow, it's wonderful!"

The voice makes her freeze mid-step, heel seconds from crushing a poor flower to its untimely demise. She's about to say something, wants to, but the words have wrestled their way back inside, against her will. Yellow takes a step back, fingers brush gently against a leafy branch as she moves it gently to the side, to a unfamiliar, gigantic, uncanny parody of herself parading a young Pink around the clearing where her ship was docked. _Oh, I've definitely gone mad._ The image of herself pours a blackened stream of garbled words over the earth like slime, and it splashes slightly against her heels- the only part visible of the monstrosity, but Pink doesn't seem to mind. Instead there's a smile on her face, a pleasant tone in her voice. She looks thrilled, cradling a blue-red flower in her fingers. "Can I have it? Pretty please?!" Pink is strangely at her eye level, and as she finally turns back to face the parody's heels their eyes meet, lock in a gaze that seemingly stretches on forever. It drives an imaginary blade through the diamond's vocal cords, and she feels a sharp stinging at the corners of her eyes. Squeezing them shut, Yellow doesn't want to deal with this... this warped hallucination right now.

Suddenly, something latches onto her arm. Pink holds on to her, sizes equal, now halfway through the plantlife as she grins widely. Her eyes shine like dying embers, her grip is tight and unwavering, and there's something about her cheerful demeanor that is simply... _off_. The diamond blinks in confusion, trying to dismiss the budding tears in the process, before she's dragged through the bushes.

"Why are you hiding out here? Come on!"

From here, Yellow got a clear view of her doppelganger, or what's left of her. From above the torso there is nothing but iron, sharp, cold, unfeeling iron jutting out in unpleasant shapes and non-standard angles that attempted -and failed- to imitate her shape, barely able to stay upright as its joints whine in protest. Smoke billows from its many ventilation grates, the clunking of the many machines that made up its innards almost deafening, poisoning the atmosphere in a cacophony of noise. The creature turns its... faceplate towards her, one glowing light slowly moving across what should've resembled eyes to acknowledge her presence, and releases a machine-like groan.

Yellow just shudders in response. _This is bad._

"Oh boy, I can't wait to have this place as my very own colony! You _will_ give it to me, won't you, Yellow?" The expectant smile bores a hole through the facets of her gem. The doppelganger doesn't respond, it's as sentient as a gem shard. She's left grasping for an answer as Pink's grip tightens against her arm. "I... I can't..."

"You can't _what_?"

"I... I can't! You're not ready yet!"

Pink's smile twists into something grotesque. She's enraged, and a scream erupts from her throat as she angrily begins to whine. "It's not fair! You said you would! You _promised_!" Her nails dig into the flesh of Yellow's arm, her touch fiery. At the sight of the commotion however, the great amalgamation begins to move towards them, very quickly. "You promised me! You liar!" Yellow's eyes widened as the creature's massive hulk of metal that resembles an arm shot out, creating a crater in the earth just inches from where she stood. Panic shoots through her system as she clutches the other, trying to move her out of harm's way. "Just stop it Pink! I'm doing this for you!"

Smoke continues to erupt from the creature's many orifices as it positively screamed, a screech of metal against metal as it reaches with another hand and swipes at both of them, Yellow and Pink narrowly missing the giant hulk of iron. Pink was a mess, grumbling, whining, weeping, and angry. "Why can't you just let me have this? There's nothing left for me to lose!"

"I-" the sentence is caught up in her throat as arms clutch at her shoulders and she's forced to confront the teary eyes of the other diamond. Grief rips through her body, like a raging animal through a china store. Pink's whining rises to a crescendo, before she addresses Yellow once more-

"I'm _already dead_ Yellow! Just let me have this for once!"

-and then embraces her. The machine pauses in its tracks, arm hauled back in a punch that would've took them both out. Yellow holds back onto Pink and cries, the tears can't stop flowing and they're staining her armor and it's unbecoming of a diamond but she weeps nonetheless. Pink is light, too light, and her vice-like grip loosens. "Just let me go." It's a whisper, but to the other it was as deafening as a thousand gems screaming in unison, suddenly cut short.

"No, no..."

"You have to let me go-" and Yellow cuts her off, tightening her embrace with fear lacing her voice.

"NO! I have to-" another sob. "I have to _protect you_... I have to!" She just got Pink back, and she was already leaving? Yellow couldn't bear to let her go, not after all these years of wronging her, not after she got a chance to fix her mistakes. Her grip on Pink's shoulders is strong, but she lets the other pull back to face her once more.

Pink sighs. "Just go, Yellow. Leave me be! Let me have this."

"I can't let you go again-" her eyes shut in an attempt to make the tears stop, an attempt to shut out the words that poured salt into the wound. "I can't. Not when I did all of this." She doesn't really specify what "this" is, doesn't really need to, they both can understand the unspoken accusation. "You have to, it was never your fault." Pink's eyes, now without the flame searing through them, mimicked her own as Yellow could see them shining with tears. She wants to protest, to cry, to just let it all out.

But then she was back inside the command room, sprawled across the floor, her pearl frantically asking if she were alright. The first noise to leave her is something strangled and sad, vulnerable, and her hands fly up to wipe the already forming tears away as she crawls into a sitting position. It's... indecent to be crying this hard, but she can still feel Pink, can still touch the soft fabric and see the broken eyes that pleaded for her to just move on. It takes quite a while to get herself back together, more than she'd liked to admit, and Yellow just sits there at the base of the chair, head in her hands, thinking. Until now, she doesn't quite understand just what had happened -and it frightened her, really, more than anything- but after a while she couldn't seem to care about the finer details. That was Pink, _alive_ , in her arms, off-scale but there.

And she told her to move on. That it wasn't her fault.

As Yellow raises her gaze to the ceiling, one of the holopanels lights up again, caught in her line of sight. She reaches with an arm, bringing it down, only to see it was the surveillance imagery she'd inspected before. There's something unexplainable compelling her to go, to see the place again, and she humors it. Her pearl stands at attention as she orders the ship prepared, scurrying off to preform her duties with a salute, and Yellow sighs as she is left alone in the dark room once more.

She doesn't have anything better to do, anyway.


End file.
